Stories, memories, pictures, facts(?), and sometimes opinions, from the mental library of a long-time Bush Rat and de Havilland Otter Pilot!

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

"Sparrowhawk Lake"!

Sparrowhawk Lake is on the Manitoba-Ontario border, on the Poplar River system. An outpost camp was built many years ago by Geiri Johnson, "aviation pioneer" and founder of Northway Aviation. The original choice of a lake for the outpost camp was Red Willow Lake, totally inside Manitoba, but the "bureaucrats" said "no", and Sparrowhawk was allocated. Years later Dick Hebel from Cobham River Lodge was allocated Red Willow Lake, but Sparrowhawk has been a "jewel". It has been a terrific lake for fishing, with miles of access east and west, and no "wide open" areas on the lake, so one never becomes "windbound". Northway ended up selling Sparrowhawk Lake to Amik Lodge, which was backed by Arnason Industries of Winnipeg. Amik Lodge then went through some changes, including ownership. Well, Brett and Barry Arnason loved Sparrowhawk Lake so much, they decided to keep it, and still own the camp on the lake to this day. I hauled fishermen into the lake the other day, accompanied by Doug "McLeod" Burton, who will be flying the "Walter Turbine Otter" Northway has just leased. Check out the lake.

"McLeod" chats with a "tourist" at Sparrowhawk!

Like a true "Bush Pilot", Doug's nose leads him right to the "cookie jar"!

Notice the rub marks on this "rack". This moose was full of "testosterone"!

"Father and son" photo on the wall, with Arnason's C-206, QNK, in behind.

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QUOTES

"In the untimely loss of your noble son, our affliction here, is scarcely less than your own. So much of promised usefulness to one's country, and of bright hopes for one's self and friends, have rarely been so suddenly dashed, as in his fall."

-President Abraham Lincoln

"Some people spend an entire lifetime wondering if they made a difference. The Marines don't have that problem."

-President Ronald Reagan

"Going to war without France is like going deer hunting without your accordion."

- General Norman Schwarzkopf

"Hope is not a strategy."

- General Tommy Franks

"Had we lived I should have had a tale to tell of the hardihood, endurance and courage of my companions which would have stirred the heart of every Englishman. These rough notes and our dead bodies must tell the tale."

- Robert Falcon Scott

"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost."

- Reverend Billy Graham

"Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

- Dr. Martin Luther King

"Burn my Flag and I will shoot you........but I'll shoot you with a lot of love, like a good American."

- Johnny Cash

"Success is not the result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."

- Reggie Leach

"When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it."